Understanding
Flour
We understand flour – from the raw material through the milling process all the way to final use. We know all about enzymatic treatment to ensure consistently high baking properties. And about fortification against malnutrition. We understand what it takes to produce the best bread, the finest pastries and delicious pasta with consistently high quality. This is because we speak the language of millers, bakers and pasta producers, working with them to develop solutions. Every day, all over the world. In the mills, in our production facilities and in our technology centres. We understand flour – And have been excelling. For everyone. For 100 years. Today. And tomorrow.
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“‘Understanding Flour’ is not just our claim, but also the aspiration we have for ourselves and our work involving one of the world’s most important staple foods. This encompasses our deep understanding of this very complex raw material, our detailed knowledge of the work, technologies and processes of the mills and always includes end users – such as large and small bakeries and pasta manufacturers – and consumers.”
“Our enzyme solutions enable the production of high-quality, affordable foods from wheat batches with varying degrees of suitability for baking applications. We also improve foods by enriching flours with important vitamins and micronutrients, making them better and healthier. In doing so we make an important contribution to the worldwide fight against malnutrition.”
100 years MC
1923 Foundation
Carl Grünig acquires a licence for the commercial exploitation of the British Arkady patent on improving the baking properties of flour by adding potassium bromate (ELCO II) and establishes Mühlenchemie. It is the first company ever to offer flour improvement additives.
1952 ALPHAMALT
With ALPHAMALT, we offer the first enzyme for flour standardisation, replacing the malt products used up until then with their varying functional properties. ALPHAMALT is still synonymous with flour improvement to this day.
1957 Marketing of
ascorbic acid
We obtain a licence to use the patent on ascorbic acid in the treatment of flour.
1990 Volkmar
Wywiol acquires
Mühlenchemie
Mühlenchemie is integrated into the Hamburg-based Stern-Wywiol Gruppe. The focus is on the export and the development of new enzyme preparations based on the theory of the “rheological optimum”, with which we perform significant development work.
1991 Future of
Flour symposium
We organise the first international conference on flour, promoting networking and knowledge transfer in the industry for the purpose of global flour improvement. The symposium is repeated in 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2017.
1995
Bromate ban
ALPHAMALT revolutionises flour treatment following the ban on the use of bromate for flour standardisation. We launch ALPHAMALT BX, a bromate substitute, ushering in a new product era. “ALPHA MALTING” becomes synonymous with successful flour optimisation using custom enzyme preparations.
1997
POWERZYM
We launch the universal enzyme POWERZYM and are active in West Africa.
1999 New production plant
Up to 35,000 tonnes of ingredients – for Mühlenchemie and others – can be produced in Wittenburg (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) since 1999. The fluidised bed system for the production of powdered micro-compounds sets new standards in enzyme refinement.
2000 Working together
against malnutrition
Working together with the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we seek to counteract global malnutrition by supplying vitamins and trace elements. From now on, the fortification of flour is one of our constant focus topics and remains one of our main priorities to this day.
2001-2023 Direction:
MC goes global
After West Africa, we expand into Asia and open our first affiliate in Singapore. This is followed by affiliates in Russia (2006), India (2008), Mexico (2009), China (2011), Ukraine (2012), Turkey (2014), Kazakhstan and Nigeria (2017), Malaysia (2018), Kenya (2021), South Africa and North America (2022).
2001 PASTAZYM
Our enzyme systems for manufacturing high-quality pasta products from soft wheat are an economic sensation.
2003 Futuremaker
The new Stern Technology Center- Futuremaker – with an analytical laboratory and test facilities for bread and pastries, wafers, biscuits and tortillas as well as pasta – brings together combined expertise in cereal chemistry and other food areas under one roof.
2004 TIGERZYM
Enzyme system for Asian steamed bread conquers the market.
2012 MCgluten Enhancer
The flour improver is a real all-rounder for treating weak flours, helping to reduce vital gluten and combine different types of grain.
2013
New super service
Major customers have been asking for the grain pilot mill for years. We can now analyse grain samples directly out of the shipment – for example from the USA – and determine the specific dough and baking properties before landing – for example in Nigeria. This advance information on the quality of the cereals while they are still on the ship is a real game changer.
2015 FLEXIZYM
Greater freshness and better rollability and flexibility for wheat tortillas
2019 Waffling on
The new wafer pilot plant assists in investigating enzymatic action and complex process parameters in even greater detail.
2021 Composite Flour
The combination of wheat flour and “non-wheat flour” (e.g. maize, rice, cassava, sorghum, etc.) is a real innovation and a major step towards consistent world nutrition.
2022 COMPOZYM
The enzyme toolbox allows up to 20 per cent of wheat flour to be replaced by substitutes such as maize, sorghum or cassava flour, without any loss of quality in the final application.
2023 Millers for Nutrition
Following the World Economic Forum in Davos, we co-founded and are part of the global Millers for Nutrition initiative, providing answers today to the world food issues of tomorrow. This is a fitting milestone for our major anniversary year, as we celebrate 100 years of Mühlenchemie.
Meet the Flourists
